It is conventional in drilling rigs to store pipe when not in use on a supporting deck near the derrick, with the pipes extending horizontally on the deck and parallel to one another. When one of the pipes is to be added to a string in the well, the pipe is usually lifted by a crane or other hoisting equipment from the horizontal storage position to a generally central position, and is then pulled upwardly along a V-door ramp to the drilling location using auxiliary hoisting equipment. When a length of pipe is removed from the string, it is lowered by the auxiliary hoisting equipment and the crane back to its horizontal position on the deck. These handling methods normally employed involve considerable manual manipulation of the pipes, with the expenditure of more rig time than would be desired in the handling process, and with substantial danger to the rig personnel. Inclined conveyors have been proposed for mechanically advancing a length of pipe upwardly from a storage deck to the drilling rig, or downwardly from the rig to the deck, but problems still remain in transporting the pipes between their horizontal storage positions and the conveyor, or between different horizontally extending positions on a storage deck or decks.